Interview with Cristobal Osorio Sanchez

Human Rights Dialogue 2.11 (Spring 2004): Environmental Rights

Cristóbal Osorio Sánchez is a survivor of massacres perpetrated against the
Maya-Achí community of Rio Negro in Guatemala, and one of the Chixoy
Dam-affected people. He is president of the Peasant Association of the Community
of Rio Negro Maya-Achí and sits on the board of the Association of Chixoy Dam
Affected Communities. My interview with Don Cristóbal is presented not as a
singular example of struggle and courage, but as representative of the many
people who have lost their lands, homes, and livelihood as a result of
internationally financed “development” projects; who have found little to no
recourse in national courts; and who have articulated their complaints to the
World Commission on Dams and other bodies. Don Cristóbal’s community is part of
a growing international movement of dam-affected communities and NGOs that is
demanding reparations from project financiers for the damage that has been
inflicted.

I have met many times with Don Cristóbal in my capacity as Latin America
outreach and community rights advocate for International Rivers Network, and
together we collaborate on the struggle to obtain reparations for the
communities affected by the Chixoy Dam. This interview reflects personal
conversations and telephone interviews held in November and December of 2003.

AGUIRRE: Don Cristóbal, you were 19 years old when construction of the
Chixoy Dam began. Tell us what you saw.

DON CRISTÓBAL: The dam was finished in 1983, but it all began in 1976
when government representatives arrived in our community and engineers began
conducting studies. They visited areas along the river and measured how much
land was going to be flooded.

When they came, we formed a committee to deal with the dam issues. Most of us
did not speak Spanish, only Achí, and since I spoke some Spanish I was elected
to that board. We were first told that we had to abandon our lands, and they
offered us many things—good housing, good lands, a truck, boats, and a
tractor. I am a witness to the unfulfilled promises.

All those promises were written up as an agreement and recorded in libros
de acta de la comunidad (a book recording the minutes and the agreements
made in community meetings and signed by all present). But later, INDE
[Guatemala’s national electricity agency] sent a letter calling all the members
of the board to meet with them in Guatemala City. We did not have the resources
for such a trip so we sent only two representatives, the president and the
secretary. They took with them the libros de acta. When they were on the
road to Pueblo Viejo, the dam security guards kidnapped them, and they
disappeared along with the book with the agreements. They took the lives of two
of our people and took the book that contained all their promises. They knew it
was going to be very difficult for us to make demands without any written
agreement. It was all a lie.

We decided that we did not want to abandon our lands, our life, our
resources, and our source of income. We had a military government and when we
pressured too much they said we were guerrillas. We were born there, our
ancestors are buried there, there is where we had our sacred sites, we had our
fruit trees and fish, and that is where we made our life and we lived well.

AGUIRRE: Can you talk about the massacres of the Rio Negro community
and how they were connected to the construction of the dam?

DON CRISTÓBAL : The massacres were directly associated with the
construction of the dam. There were five massacres. In one, seven members of our
community were called by dam security officials to meet in our village. When a
negotiation agreement was not reached, they were killed right there. Another
massacre occurred in Xocox, where men and women were killed. On March 13, 1982,
the Army and paramilitaries came and massacred 107 children and 73 women. It all
happened because we did not want to leave our land for the construction of the
dam.

AGUIRRE: How has your life and your children’s lives changed, compared
to that of your father?

DON CRISTÓBAL : The lives of my parents were such beautiful lives. My
father was a farmer; he cultivated corn, chiles, tomatoes, beans, and more. Life
was easier because they cultivated everything they needed; they did not have to
buy food. They had good and extensive lands. He owned a piece of land that was
flooded. They didn’t need a pharmacy because they had their own medicines. He
also fished with nets, and had cattle and animals. He lived a good life.

He is 87 years old now. He used to walk by the river and had lots of friends
and coordinated activities with other communities. Just a couple of months ago
he told me that he is so sorry that the government did not think about how they
were going to destroy our lives. He said that here in the resettlement of Pacux
we are very confined. And he expressed sorrow for his grandchildren and great
grandchildren. “They are the ones that are going to suffer even more,” he said.
“We did not used to be sad.”

We can’t have chickens and other animals here in the resettlement. Before,
every family’s house was 300 or 400 meters apart. Here we are all squashed
together. It is going to be worse later—the children will grow up, there will
be more people, and we will be poorer. That is what my father said.

AGUIRRE: After all that your community has gone through, tell us what
you are doing now.

DON CRISTÓBAL : In view of the needs and suffering caused by the dam,
we formed the Peasant Association of the Community of Rio Negro Maya-Achí to
address the development of our community and to seek reparations for the damages
caused by the dam. We made lots of connections with legal groups here in
Guatemala, other peasant and human rights organizations, and with international
groups. We know that we can’t do this alone.

Before, we did not know who was responsible for all that happened to us. We
now know that those responsible are the ones who financed the construction of
the dam. We are demanding that the World Bank, the Inter-American Development
Bank, and the government of Guatemala repair the damages. That is the objective
of our organization. We demand that those banks send a commission to investigate
the situation in our community, and personally assess our situation here in
Pacux.

We are preparing a study of the damages caused by the dam. This is a tool
that we can use to negotiate with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development
Bank, the INDE, and the government of Guatemala.

AGUIRRE: Don Cristóbal, what do reparations mean for you?

DON CRISTÓBAL : Reparations allow us to get back our dignity—respect
for our culture and our rights. Reparations mean we will be able to provide for
our families and live well again, to develop projects to benefit the community,
to increase capacity and intelligence of the people, to take advantage of things
that are useful to all. For the people to be able to think, to feel good, to
feel that there is a sense of future. To feel good about life.

Reparations mean documenting the massacres. To remember brings us peace, with
the knowledge that we have not abandoned the people who were massacred. Every
year we have ceremonies to remember the death and what happened so this won’t
happen again. So our children won’t let this happen again.

AGUIRRE: Do you still go to Rio Negro, to the dam site?

DON CRISTÓBAL : We do. It is difficult because the security agents of
the dam do not allow us through Pueblo Viejo. When we begin negotiating with the
banks, we will bring up this issue. We are the owners of those lands and they do
not allow us to enter through the area.

And this is a terrible problem. Our sacred sites were all flooded, especially
Los Encuentros. We don’t have sacred sites to have our ceremonies any more. The
only place we do our ceremonies is where our families were massacred up from the
reservoir. That is the only sacred site.

AGUIRRE: How about the people who live below the dam site?

DON CRISTÓBAL : They are living in a dangerous situation because you
don’t know when the dam gates are going to be opened and they are below the dam.
Two years ago someone was swept away and died. A car was also swept away. When
it rains a lot the level of the reservoir increases and it is dangerous. These
people have also joined in the struggle for reparations. They also say that INDE
made promises that it did not fulfill. Their situation is very critical.

AGUIRRE: What do you think will be the future of your children?

DON CRISTÓBAL : We are doing everything possible for them to have a
better life. That is an objective of our organization. If we don’t work together
we will never get back what we lost. I want my children to become educated. I
want them to know what we have gone through. The dam caused us great damages. I
don’t want my children to be like us, who are uneducated. Unfortunately because
we are indigenous people, the ladinos [non-indigenous people] take advantage of
us. Can you imagine all the lies and promises they made to us? What we wish is
that our children do not have to go through that.